The Belief
by Birdie num num
Summary: Stephanie's life was already difficult as a Christian girl. As an Animorph however, 'difficult' is going to take on a whole new meaning...
1. Default Chapter

DISCLAIMER: This is like, totally, like, not my like original main story and junk. I so do not totally own Animorphs! Like, okay? Oh, my, gosh!

But the narrator is definitely my brain work!

Okay, basically adding a new character to the Animorphs. Another member. There's almost no chance for romance in this. It's just mostly me putting a Jesus Freak character in it, seeing what will happen. What you guys will think. So, if you want me to continue, please say.

If not, okay. I've got about 10 other fanfics I'm working on right now, and I'll probably have a serious mental malfunction soon...

I definitely need REVIEWS on this, positive, or negative!

The Belief

Chapter 1

I stared at the lion in the Gardens.

We were there to pick my battle morph.

Perhaps I should seriously back up and explain.

Yeah. Might have to do that.

My name is Stephanie.

Just Stephanie. I can't tell you anymore than that because if I do, I'll wake up with a slug in my head tomorrow morning.

Sounds nuts right? Like I need to lay off the weed?

Well I don't do drugs, and as far as I know, I'm sane.

I'm also a Christian. Yes, what you'd call a 'Jesus Freak' I guess.

I have been for almost a year now. And I think it's good that I am, because I sure don't know how else I would deal with the knowledge that parasitic slugs from outerspace called Yeerks are invading Earth.

Yep. It's true.

No. Really!

Look, I'm not just another Christian kid who really likes science fiction! I'm telling the truth!

Jesus is the way, the _truth_, and the life, so why would I lie? Huh?

See? There.

Anyway. I guess I'll have to explain everything else.

There are other alien races involved in this great big fiasco.

There are the Andalites, who are basically blue furry centaurs with four eyes (two on stalks, and two on their face) and tails like scorpions have, except with a blade on the end, instead of a pinchy thingy. They created the morphing technology, which allows you to become any animal you can touch and 'acquire'. But you can only be that animal for two hours. Or you'll be stuck forever.

Imagine being your cat Oreo for the rest of a kitty's life span? Yes? Wouldn't be very fun would it?

Well, then you can imagine why I was so nervous with the very idea of morphing.

Especially the whole 'acquiring process'.

I'd needed a flight morph, so Tobias had actually allowed me to acquire him.

Now I needed a big and nasty battle morph.

I guess I should back up and say that for the past few weeks, I hadn't been fighting.

I didn't know what to do. If it would be right, or wrong. You know the Christian philosophy. The Golden Rule. Turning the other cheek. So what was I to do?

I talked to Cassie about it. Since she was nonviolent, but an atheist, I kind of valued her ideas. She understood being a pascifist, but had secular arguments for it.

But she still fought...

I decided in the end that I couldn't just do nothing. I mean, God probably didn't want slugs taking over His people. Surely there was a purpose for me bumping into the Animorphs.

Surely there was a reason for me being here.

Then there was the argument that I was supposed to walk away from it. And the other argument that I was supposed to help the fight, but nonviolently. As in espionage.

So I joined the Sharing.

Believe me, I really, really didn't want to. I had actually considered it before, before I...knew it was a secret front for parasitic slugs from outerspace to take over human beings.

I mean, hey, it sounded Christian. Even if it was secular, it sounded nice. Accepting everybody and encourage friendship and stuff. Really, it was no surprise that so many hosts were voluntary.

After all, how many times do you find people who say they'll accept you no matter what? Not very often right?

Seeing as that was the reason I accepted Christ into my life, how could I judge the people who joined the Sharing, when they were looking for just the same thing I was? Acceptance.

"Hellooooo! Earth to Stephanie?" Marco said, getting in my face and waving his arms around.

"Hmm?" I said, snapping out of my thought. I had been staring at the big scary lion for the past few minutes. He was lying in the heat, panting, looking generally bored like lions in zoos do. Another argument against keeping wild animals in zoos...

"Well, Stephanie? Do you want to morph it or not?" Jake asked. Jake, the unofficial, but extremely necessary leader of our group.

"I don't know." I replied. "I mean...it's strong, right?"

"One of the strongest animals on the planet." Cassie said. Cassie is the animal expert of the group. "Near the very top of the food chain."

"Man, that animal brings back really, really bad, bad memories." Marco said.

I shuddered, knowing what he was talking about. David. I hadn't known him. But they had told me about him.

Rachel had told me somewhat threateningly all about him as if suggesting that if I tried anything, well, there could always be more rats on Earth...

Not that I ever would have betrayed them. They were Earth's only protection. My mom and dad's only protection. My little brother Kyle's only protection.

I guess I shouldn't say only. I was positive God wasn't just sitting back in all of this...

And I'm just not the 'betrayal' type.

No. Really.

I'm probably the most nonthreatening person you've ever seen.

I'm about 4ft 11inches tall.

Yep. That's me. Small. Short, very reddish hair, touching my cheek. Brown freckles. Squinty brown eyes. That is me, Stephanie, the gothy Christian.

What? I like black... Maybe too much...

I wear other colors too. Just mostly black and white and dark purple.

So? I like gothy style. If not heavy metal and gory humor.

Of course when I go to church, I lay off the feather boas, ripped tee shirts, chains, spikes, and even my numerous earrings. It's a pretty contemporary church, but all the same, I don't think mom would be very happy if I wore my black leather trench coat complete with numerous spiked wrist bands. At least I can wear my fairy tees without getting too many stares, as most of the kids in my youth group like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter anyway.

And I don't think Jesus minds too much anyway...

Marco began to hum the Jeopardy song. You know, that really annoying one people hum whenever you're trying to make a decision and you can't?

Rachel smirked.

I was thinking of the lion because you know how the Bible refers to Jesus as the 'Lion of Judah?' Maybe that's corny, but I just thought it would be so cool.

Plus I have a fetish for African stuff. My room is full of it. Walls covered in masks. Plushy girraffes everywhere. You name it, I've got it.

"Well..." I said, biting my lip. "Okay. I will."

"Cool." Rachel said. "Another David."

I turned to fake glare at her. "I am NOT a traitor!"

"The proof is in the pudding." Ax said. "Pudding. Pu. Ding. Ding!"

I rolled my eyes. "Where did you learn that?"

"Your mother. She says it a lot. Lot! A lot! Lot lot lot!"

I sighed. They had watched my family for three whole embarrassing days. Watched my mom power walk down the street. My dad yell at the t.v. when it was only unplugged. Kyle shave his head in a mohawk. My awfully humiliating, American family.

"I like pudding." Aximili said.

"Me too!" Marco stage whispered.

Jake rolled his eyes. "Alright guys. Tonight let's go get Stephanie a David morph. I mean...a lion morph." He quickly walked ahead of us, looking very, very embarrassed.

I groaned as Marco and Rachel laughed.

I watched the lion as we left. I tried to imagine being a lion. What was it like? To feel so powerful that you could just rip the leg off of something?

Ugh...bad mental images...

Still, I believed that the lion had gotten a bad rep because of David. And I was out to redeem the lion morph back to it's proper Biblical symbolism.

Man I had no idea what I was getting into...

Okay, please, please PLEASE commense with the REVIEWING! I mean, really, positive, negative, if you just want to rave, or if you just want to rant, whatever! COME ON!


	2. Mufasa?

WHERE CAN YOU SEE LIONS? PRRRPRRPRRPRR!" Marco sang. "ONLY IN KENYA! COME TO KENYA, WE'VE GOT LIONS!

(Marco?) Rachel said.

(Yes Rachel?)

(Shut up. Now.) She said simply.

(You know Weebl and Bob?) I said, surprised that anybody else knew of it.

(Uh, yeah. Best web site ever made, right?)

(They rock. I like Jibjab too though.)

(This land is my land, this land is your land, I'm an intellectual, you're a stupid dumb-)

(Marco, shut UP!) Rachel snapped.

She was edgy. We all were.

We were on the roof of a Mac Donalds, in our seagull morphs. I had acquired an injured seagull at Cassie's barn. You acquire by touching the animal and concentrating on it for a few seconds. Then you have that DNA in you forever and you can morph it whenever you want. Of course, you have to be in your natural form to be able to morph anything. You can't morph while already in an animal morph. You can't go through morphs, you've got to demorph to your normal human (or Andalite) self, and then morph.

Seagulls were the most unconspicous choice, as they go around in groups all the time. I mean, let's face it, how many times do you see a great big group of birds of prey flying in formation? So two hawks, a harrier, a falcon, an eagle, and two ospreys would have been a bit weird.

(Okay.) Jake said. (Are we all ready?)

(Man!) Marco moaned. (I've got a test tomorrow! Are you sure she's got to acquire it now?)

(She might as well before something weird comes up and we have a mission and we don't have time to stop by the Gardens!) Tobias snapped. He was especially grumpy. I could tell he probably badly wanted to be in his normal hawk body. Or what for him was normal.

Cassie was fairly quiet as usual. I remained quiet too. I wanted to just get this over with.

(Alright.) Jake said. (I'll take that as a yes.)

There was a silence.

(Uh, Rachel?) Tobias said. (Your cue.)

(Hmm? Oh!) She had been overtaken by the seagull's incredible drive for eating whatever junk it found and had been staring down at the dumpster behind the Mac Donalds.

(Let's do it!)

(Brava.) I said, as if encoreing an actress.

We flew off in the direction of the gardens.

When we got there, it was fully dark, and when we landed, we immediately demorphed.

It was still drizzling and very crappy weathered. I stood with the others in my embarrassing morph suit- an excercise tank and the shorts that cheerleaders wear under their cheer skirt.

"We are so X-Men with the tackyness." Marco said.

"Oh stop whining." I replied.

"Easy for you to say now." Marco retorted. "But I bet you won't be so cocky when you have to pet Mufasa in there."

Rachel smirked. I tried not to gulp.

"Let's go." Cassie said. "I think I hear someone coming."

It was the late night guard, strolling along with a flashlight.

"Quick! Behind the bushes!" Jake ordered.

We hurried. It was kind of akward to fit a furry blue centaur, and five kids behind the three large bushes, but we managed somehow.

"Oh boy." I whispered.

"Shhh!" Paranoid expertise Marco hissed.

The guard slowly passed. When he rounded the corner, down the row of animal habitats, and disappeared from sight, we got out from behind the bushes.

"Where's Tobias?" Jake asked, looking a little worried.

"He took off." Rachel said.

Tobias landed a few seconds later. Here I am, Fearless Leader.

"Good. Now that we're all here-"

"Let me guess, this is where you hand out the chores? Right?" Marco broke in with a grin.

"Yep. Absolutely." Jake then continued. "Rachel, Ax, and I will go in with Stephanie, in case things get crazy."

"Which they will." Marco predicted.

He was probably right.

"Tobias, Marco, and Cassie will fly cover. Everyone cool?"

There was a chorus of 'yes' from everyone.

We went in.


	3. Meow Mix Stephanie

Hey guys! Yeah, yeah, I know! I haven't updated in like...forever. Just deal, okay! Man...geez! College is...college is mucho importante, you know? And I am le busy...

But yeah. Here's another chappie for ya. . Grinses

**Stephanie Chapter 3**

I limped back into my room, wincing. Stupid lion!

Stupid me for trying to be corny and Biblical and wanting an effing lion morph! What was wrong with me, honestly? Where was my brain most of the time?

"Great job, Stephanie!" I hissed to myself as I sat down on my bed. I tensed as my mom came in in her nightgown.

"Baby," she said in that I'm-your-half-asleep-mom voice, "Did you _just_ come in the door?"

My eyes nervously flashed to the little digital clock beside my bed. "Em...yeah. I did..."

She gave me a weird half-asleep-but-very-concerned-mom look and said, "Well, try to get in earlier, okay?"

I smiled nervously at her, slipping my hand away from my lion-bit calf.

"Um, yeah, okay mom."

She caught sight of my hand moving from my leg. _Oh no...ohno ohno ohno!_

"What did you do to your leg, baby? Did you sprain it?"

"Umm...yeah. Whatever."

"Here, let me put some ice on that."

"NO!" I yelled. She jumped and gave me a frazzled-mom look.

"Umm...I'm good! I'll get the ice myself!" I slowly got up.

"Oh but honey, you're hurt, let _me_ get it."

"No! No, you should...um...go back to bed. Dad'll wake up." I supplied quickly. My dad has insomnia. If he reaches over and my mom isn't there, odds are he'll wake up and then he won't be able to get back to sleep the whole night. He's gone to work exhausted a lot of times because my little brother Kyle will wake mom up for a midnight snack.

"Yeah, okay. Well, are you _sure_ you'll be fine?"

"YES, mom!"

"Alright, alright." She turned to go, then stopped and gave me a look. _Ohno ohno ohno! _

"You haven't been doing anything illegal have you?"

"No mom!" I almost broke out laughing from relief. Well, wait...yeah I technically _had_ been doing something illegal.

So that made me a liar...

"Like jumping trains?" Her eyes looked so worried, I suddenly felt sick. When I was in fourth grade, I felt the need to be an idiot and jump onto a train, as it pulled from the station, and then from it to a crowd of my cheering friends and I fractured my ankle jumping from it and landing on the hard gravel by the track. It was a minor fracture, and I didn't even get a cast for everybody to sign ( I wanted a green one SO bad ). I just hobbled around school with a brace for about three weeks. And Mom nearly went crazy when she found out her baby broke her leg being stupid and jumping off a train. She nearly went mental a few weeks ago when she found out Kyle and his friends were doing it.

I nearly spanked the life out of Kyle myself. Or would have. Were it not for that mom doesn't believe in spanking.

"No, mom." I had to laugh though. The idea that I would be out doing something as nice and safe as jumping trains, in the face of the reality that I was hauling butt from very annoyed lions and possibly Yeerks too was just a little bit funny. "I wouldn't do anything so stupid."

_Lie._ The voice in me said. _You're a liar._

_What?_ I reasoned. _Fighting isn't stupid...not really..._

"Okay...well...If you're telling the truth, I'm going back to bed."

I wanted so to roll my eyes. _If you're telling the truth._ Talk about a phrase my mom always used to get me to confess when I misbehaved as a kid! Like the time I locked Kyle in a closet for being annoying and she heard him and let him out and Kyle, being Kyle, wouldn't tell on me, but she knew all the same and just said "Well, if you're telling the truth, I guess Kyle _did_ lock himself in there..." And of course, I cracked and confessed.

"K. Love you mom."

"Goodnight."

"Night."

I watched her go with a small measure of guilt. So this is what Cassie meant when she had told me about the personal costs.

As soon as I heard my mom enter her and dad's bedroom and close the door, I closed my door and sat back on my bed to peel my pants slowly up and inspect my leg.

The bite...ugh. I'd never seen anything like it, nor had I ever had such a wound, nor, I hoped, would I ever have one like this again. Luckily, the lion had let go when it found Jake's tiger teeth around it's neck. Cassie told me that normally when a lion bit, it pulled and tore. My leg was still in one piece, but there were four, very large, very deep holes where lion teeth had been.

And I had giggled at my cat's bites...little teensy harmless holes in my arm.

Yeah, imagine that, but large scale. Like 400x maybe. Not even slightly cute or harmless at all...

I quickly morphed, my heart pounding, to seagull, then back to girl. I turned my head to see my cat watching me from under the desk and marveled that I hadn't been killed in seagull form.

"Idiot!" I whispered to myself. You always check a room before you morph Stephanie! You know that! Anybody could be watching...

Of course, my cat wasn't exactly a Yeerk spy, I didn't think so anyway, but he could definitely, if he'd been in the right mood, have bitten my little seagull head off in midmorph.

_Nah,_ he would have. I reasoned. _He knew it was me...I guess... _

"Hey buddy," I said, wanting to cuddle a fuzzy lump at the moment. Being chomped onto by a very, very big lion's surprisingly strong set of jaws, then having to not scream, then having to run, limping, with no time to demorph, from alerted guards that could very well have been Yeerks, and if they had caught sight of me, could have identified me and infested me, my family, the Animorphs, and Ax within a very few, convenient hours, had definitely made me just a little bit jittery.

He hissed. I backed away, more than a little hurt. My cat _never_ hisses at me.

He was probably being weird because he saw me morph.

He ran to the door and glared at me.

I opened it and he hissed again and ran out.

Hurt, I sat back onto the bed after closing it. I looked at my leg, curiously again. Amazing. It was gone. I hadn't even noticed all the pain was gone as well.

"Cool." I said. It was really amazing if you thought of all the healing possibilities of morphing. A bite that would have taken a bunch of stitches and weeks of healing, as well as probably some shots to prevent infection, and pain that would have taken at least a teeny little bit of morphine, could be healed in a matter of a minute with the morphing technology.

"Awesome." I said. _Great_, I was so tired, I was talking to myself in one to two syllable answers.

"Time for bed." I said, quickly kicking off my pants and searching for pj's in my drawers. I changed and slipped in between the sheets, feeling totally grungy for not taking a shower, but tomorrow. _Yes, tomorrow morning._

Meanwhile, I would try to not have nightmares about being chased and eaten by very angry lions directed to do so by the pointing paw of my own cat, sitting on a thrown with a crown - lions that kept calling me a "liar."


	4. Stephanie's Little Boyfriend

**Chapter Four**

Monday. 6:30 A.M.

My alarm blared the local spanish station. A nice, loud Mexican song. Because that was really the only type of music that could wake me up, for some very odd reason.

I pushed myself out of bed with a groan and hit the button to stop it. "Ugh," is the only comment I had to make on it, as I fell back down against my bed, in pursuit of fifteen sweet more minutes of sleep.

The events of the night before came rolling back to me. My leg's gash. My arm went to my leg and rubbed it. Of course, it's not wasn't there anymore.

With a grumble, I got up and took a quick shower and then dressed. My hair wet and straggly, I pulled a beanie of my favorite Christian band, Newsboys, over it and ran down the stairs. A dozen almost-worn-down-to-the-nub pencils and little doodled, folded up papers flew out of it, left and right. My bookbag had a lot of holes in it. It's my favorite bookbag, because it's small yet can oddly fit almost any amount of school crap in it. It's like it had some kind of Z-Space effect on it.

I grinned with an idea of a good prank to pull on poor Ax sometime. _"Hey Ax, I think my bookbag has some kind of anti-matter ability..."_ I giggled at the thought of him contemplating it and looking it over.

I climbed the bus and there was Marco, grinning sardonically at me from my usual seat. I glare at him. He was in my window seat! I liked my window seat...I'm one of those people who likes to listen to my cd player and stare out the window on the ride to school. Zone out and not have to talk to anyone. But I could see Marco wanted to talk.

I sighed and resigned myself to his cheesy jokes, flirting, and more likely, snarky comments about my faith.

"So, Jamie." Marco grinned at me. "What's up?"

"Umm not much. Just...going to school." 'And you're in my seat!' I couldn't help but think.

He nodded a little, looked out the window and pretended as if he was zoning out, then looked at me again. "So uh...about yesterday..."

"My leg is fine."

"Oh I know. I'm not worried about you. You can take care of yourself now." he smirked.

"Oh okay. So, you really just wanted to sit next to me and talk to me?"

He looked at me then in the eyes. "I wanted you to know that it's going to be a lot worse than just a bite in the leg." He had dropped his voice lower, I guess in case anyone heard us.

I felt a shiver down my spine. His eyes were dark and serious to the point of scaring me.

"There are going to be times when your leg is completely taken off. Or your arm. Or your stomach gets sliced open."

"Okay..." I said, smirking a little. I looked at the back of the seat in front of me, my face burning. I don't even know why, I was just nervous all of a sudden.

"Marco why are you saying this to me?"

"Because honestly," he snapped. "I don't think you're up for it. I think you're too worried about being little miss moral, little miss sunday school, to be of any real help to us. I think you don't even _believe_ in fighting for _freedom_." he laughed sardonically. "And that's not good..."

I swallowed. I couldn't help it, I was cringing from him, still looking at the seat in front of me. I hated myself for it, but I was cringing from him. "What about Cassie?" I said. "She doesn't believe in fighting-"

He laughed again. "No...she doesn't...to a point. She'll fight if it's for something she believes is right. You on the other hand. You believe in turning the other cheek." he hissed "And that's useless to us Stephanie. Turning the other cheek in this war gets you with a slug in your head."

I felt sick. I wanted to throw up, wanted to slap him, wanted to move to another seat, and I even found myself looking for one.

I reached into my bag and quickly put on my earphones, turning on my cd player. He snatched my earphones off.

"Don't avoid _me!_"

"Who the _hell_ do you think you are?" I said out loud. People grew quiet around us and stared.

"Be quiet!" he hissed. The people around us gradually turned away after laughing and saying "OOooooh!"

"I don't remember you being appointed leader." I snapped, snatching back my earphones. "Or Inquisitor!"

He leered at me and shook his head. "Great way to avoid what I was saying."

"I can avoid it if I want to!" I snapped. "I don't have to answer to _you_. Because you're not Jake. I've _already_ answered to Jake. That's it. Finito."

"Yeah but I just can't wait to see when a battle comes around and -"

"You want to go and tell Jake that I'm going to be the ruin of this group, _go ahead, Marco!"_ I hissed at him. "Go ahead! I'm serious. Because the only reason you're saying all this to me is because if you said it to Jake, he would just tell you the same thing, and you know it!"

"And what would that be?" he snapped.

"That I'm here. And that I'm obviously willing to fight. And that the other Animorphs have already made their decision about me." I put my headphones on. "Whether you like it or not." I felt a smile grow on my face and he glared at me, and then turned to look out the window the rest of the ride.

My so called "triumph" against Marco that morning wasn't really a triumph of course, because the rest of the day, I felt doubtful and weary, and the feeling that someone else in the group didn't like me, didn't want me there, was making me feel really sick inside.

I prayed about it. It was strange. I was sitting in science class, and it was like Jesus just bumped my shoulder and said "Hey...I'm here, remember? Don't let him throw you. Marco's not so scary. He's just a kid like you. Talk to me..."

I prayed that God would help me to keep things on a calm level with Marco and that I wouldn't get upset or defensive when we talked.

"Amen." I muttered as Mr. Eady, my science teacher, concluded his lecture on weather currents and the evidence of global warming.

My friend since grade school, Ashley, smirked. "Stephanie the answer isn't 'Jesus.'"

I pinched her arm and she cracked up and tried to pinch me back. I jerked my desk away.

"Girls!" Mr. Eady said. "Please. Stop." In that I'm Mr Bald and Serious Scary Teacher voice he used a lot with me and Ashley.

"Oh. K." Ashley whispered and I was laughing again. We spent the rest of the class muffling our laughter in our hoodies, and scribbling notes and little pictures comparing Mr. Eady's bald head to an egg.

"Who's that guy I heard you were fighting with on the bus this morning?" she scribbled.

I felt myself turn red. Word definitely got around our school way too fast.

"What do you mean fighting? Who told you we were fighting?" I scribbled back.

She looked at me and smirked, shaking her head. "Don't pretend like you don't know what I'm talking about. What's his name? Is it Marco? I overheard Katrina and Isabel talking about it."

I made a mental note to...pray...for Katrina and Isabel. Then I forced myself not to crumple up the paper and scribbled back. "He's nobody. Just some jerk who keeps like, trying to hit on me-"

Mr Egg Head grabbed my note.

"What's this? Hmm...let's see what couldn't wait until the end of class, huh Stephanie?"

I thought I would die as he read it aloud to everyone else. They had a great laugh at it.

"Ooooooh go Stephanie!" a girl named Christina said.

"No way!" Danielle snapped. "Marco is like, so disgusting are you kidding me? Plus he's like, super annoying."

Christina shrugged. "Hey, at least he's noticing her. Oh, Stephanie, I didn't mean that like, you know-"

More laughter followed and I turned what was probably a very unattractive tomato shade again. I prayed a bitter thanks to God as the bell rang and I grabbed my stuff as I left.

"Stupid egg head," Ashley said, trying for sympathy as if she hadn't been laughing along with the rest of them.

I stormed past her and she called out "Hey! Wait! What'd I do? I'm sorry!"

She caught up with me at my locker and I huffed. "I am so...sick of people acting like I can't get a date!"

"Hey now, I know you can get a date!"

"Oh please! I'm the Christian girl and on top of it, I'm the freak too! Nobody crushes on orangey haired, "prudes!""

"Well obviously your Mr. Don Juan here does, because here he comes again!" she giggled and began to scamper away.

"No, wait! Ashley come back and talk to me so he won't-"

"Byyeee! Give you sometime alone!" she snickered, hurrying off. I stared hopelessly after her chain covered, baggy black jeans as she hurried off.

"Stephanie!" I gritted my teeth as I jolted...and banged my head on the corner of my locker door.

"Gaaaahgh!" I moaned, clutching and rubbing my head as it throbbed in pain.

"Ohhh!" Marco put his hands on my head and started to rub at my temples.

"Whatgggffferrr! Get off!" I slapped his hands away. Why was he touching me?

He stared at me for a moment, and people around us laughed and stared for a while to see if we were going to fight.

He burst in snickering. "Well...sorry. I guess I'll leave you alone until you feel nice and spiritual again."

"Okay, can you just stop with the little subtle insults to my faith and come to the point of why you came to talk to me? Please?" He was ruining my whole day!

"Okay, okay! Calm down...Feisty Redhead." he winked and grinned at me. I wanted to laugh and smack the cheesy, confident Marco grin off his face at the same time.

"Excuse me?" I glared at him. "I am not 'feisty'...I'm crazy. Now spill or leave me alone."

"You know what? You're right." I couldn't believe my ears. "I've been...less than respectful of your...religious orientation (I snorted) lately."

"Mmmhmmm..." I said. 'And where exactly is this going?' I couldn't help but just want him to spit out whatever was on his mind and go away.

"So I apologize..." he gritted his teeth and forced it into a smile. I suddenly grasped how difficult it was for Marco to say sorry to anyone for anything he said and started to appreciate...and even enjoy the conversation.

I grinned. "Why, for what?"

His grin disappeared and his eyes turned mock beady and serious. "Hey now...don't push it."

I nodded, smiling. "Okay, let's skip the apology. Since you'll probably keep making remarks about my faith anyway..." Marco laughed. "And go ahead and say what you came to say."

"Alright..." he seemed grateful but disguised it with his usual Marco smoothness. "There's the little matter of this uh...social event on Friday...I believe you know what I mean."

I didn't. "Marco...I don't have a social life..."

He stared at me for a moment. "Oh yeah that's right-"

"Hey!" I slapped him on the arm.

"Ow! Hey you said it yourself!"

"Well...yeah..." I said. ("Ha!" Marco cried in triumph.)

"Anyway, go on."

Marco grinned. "The dance, Stephanie. The school dance...coming up Friday. Three fifteen. School gym. You and me babe," he winked. I stared at him, agog.

"Oh I know, I know. You've been dreaming of this forever. You felt as if it would never come true. But it has Stephanie..." he grinned again and smoothed back his hair, admiring his reflection in my locker mirror. "Yes, yes...You'll be out there with me and...well...I don't know if anyone's told you but..." he blushed and I raised an eyebrow. "I'm like...the best dancer in this school. I mean...I make Fred Astair look like Steve Urkel. It's...embarrassing really." he winked at me. Then his face fell. "What's so funny?"

I was doubling over, holding my ribs. "AHAHAHAHAHA!" The few people remaining in the halls were staring now.

"What the-"

"HA HA HA HA HA HAAaaaaa!" I thought I was going to explode. "Oh my gosh!" I fell against the wall of lockers, wiping tears from my eyes. "You...you really think you're something special don't you?"

He looked annoyed and puzzled now. "Stephanie...if this is what you do when a guy asks you to a dance, then, damn. It's really no surprise you're alone..." he started to storm away and I began to giggle even harder. His words hadn't even offended me! I couldn't even get mad! It was just so funny!

I finally got to my feet and began to put my books in my book bag. Oh man, I had to tell this to Rachel. And Cassie. Anybody who would listen, really. This was just too funny.

In global history I started getting mad though. Who did he think he was after all? Like he could just snap at me and insult me one minute and then ask me out the next! Like I would say yes, like...

I felt as if God was in the back of my brain then suddenly saying "You asked me to help you keep things level...don't look for reasons to get mad and argue if you meant that..."

I sighed a long sigh and Mrs. Cranes said "Just a moment longer, Stephanie, I promise! We just need to cover this one more section and you guys can go!"

"Oh I wasn't-" I sat up in my seat.

"It's alright. I understand you want to go and talk to your little boyfriend."

"What?"

The class was laughing. I felt myself turn bright red again.

Great! Whether I was going with him to the dance or not he succeeded in making my life an embarrassment!

I struggled between praying for God to give me restraint and already praying for the forgiveness I would need for finding and punching Marco as soon as this class ended!

**Review Comments - For those of you who bothered** (a long time in coming, but better late than never, no?)

LilManiac - Well I'm glad you apparently enjoyed it anyway! And I like to talk about my religion. :)

Nikki - glad you're liking the story! It's nice to be encouraged!

Saint Josmane - thank you! I will! ;D

gpshaw - Yeah, I'm thinking Stephanie will definitely face a lot of controversy about her faith and the fighting, and not really from Marco or others the way I've portrayed so far, so much as herself. I'm glad you can appreciate the spiritual/religious view and I hope you'll keep enjoying the story! Also I can definitely foresee some difficulty with her having a relationship with Marco or any other guy due to confusion about her faith as a possibility in the future! Very perceptive and I appreciate the tip:) And yes, I definitely intend on flashing back to her gaining the power at some point.

shadow-angel5192 - yes, I was all too honored to reference Jibjab's vid in here. :)

Lucien Ancalmon - thanks and here I have! I intend to update more due to revived interest in this story from reviewers and on my own part:D

Anifan1 - yes my story ideas tend to be a little odd and eye catching ;D If I say so myself. Anyway, thanks for reviewing:D

JohnPsuedonymDoeSmith - Thank you for taking the time to review at least. But while I'm pleased at your enthusiasm, I find a few things odd about your review. First of all, I don't think anyone on this site finds reviews comprised of walls of angry, choppy, caps-locked text pleasant to read. Secondly, for the great philosopher that you seem to pride yourself to be, you fail to realize that philosophy is not meant to beat people over the head with. As for the argument of keeping wild animals in zoos - this is a fanfiction from the point of view of a middle school girl. Not really meant to be a debate forum. I didn't realize that a proper logical argument was necessary, but I'll try to keep that in mind next time.

KoreanPearl - Thanks for reviewing though:D It has been a while and I'm sorry!

Dreamstar's Courage - Yes, I want Stephanie to be a character that people can find real. I try to make all of my characters with some flaws and I definitely want Stephanie to be flawed since as Christians we're not flawed and yeah, it really is unfair when people assume us to be and then expect it.

TwinTrouble - Thanks! And yes, I'm a Christian. :) I don't know if I mentioned it in my profile (should probably go back and put it in there if I didn't). Stephanie's faith is just kind of along the lines of that Jesus told her to turn the other cheek. I agree that war in the Old Testament is justified. I'm not don't remember where Jesus might have said that it was okay though. If you have verses you'd like to show me though, I'm interested and I think you can find my messenger in my profile. I'll check and see that it's in there and you and I can talk. :D And yes, I'll keep writing!

The Enthusiast - you really live up to your pen name:) Yes, I am a Christian! And I'm glad you enjoy my stories! It's always great to hear that!

I'll be working to put out another chapter soon! Thanks for all your reviews!


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